Catalans begin paying taxes directly to the Catalan government

On Friday, April 13th the official launching of Diem Prou (Let's say enough) was held in Siurana-Cornudella de Montsant (Priorat). The goal of the event was to announce that eight Catalan businesses have begun paying their taxes directly to the Catalan Tax Office—as opposed to the Spanish one.

People gathering right before the event.

Andreu Bartolomé, one of the founding members, acted as the MC for the evening, during which people kept asking about one subject in particular, namely how much personal risk is involved in such actions. Since the beginning, one of the goals of the organizers has been to educate and dispel erroneous notions concerning what they are trying to achieve.

Andreu Bartolomé, founding member of Diem Prou.

“We're not concerned with the risks involved, because we're still paying our taxes after all. What we're most afraid of is of doing nothing, which would have disastrous consequences for Catalonia.”

Afterwards several members of Diem Prou gave their own speeches, followed by Carme Teixidó and Josep Maria of Ara o Mai (Now or Never), Anna Arqué of Welcome Mr. President, and Joan Vives of CADCI (Autonomist Subsidiary Center of Industry and Trade).

The entities that are giving support to the the team of Diem Prou include La Teixidora, Professors per la independència (Teachers for independence), Sant Martí per la independència (Sant Martí for independence), Sobirania i Justícia (Sovereignty and Justice), CCN (Catalan Business Circle), Tarragona decideix (Tarragona decides), and DNI.cat. Òmnium Cultural was not present, but Andreu wanted to highlight that the Reus branch of Òmnium had given them lots of encouragement.

After the mayors of Cornudella de Montsant, Vilella Baixa, and Vilaplana gave their speeches, Roger Roi and Marc, two of the eight businessmen who have decided to pay taxes to the Catalan government, spoke. The latter said:

“The day will come when paying taxes to our own country will be the normal thing.”

Roger Roi, one of the businessmen.

To finish up, the organizers explained what kinds of actions they are preparing down the road. Later during the year, phase II (disobedience) will be activated, according to what may have worked out initially. In this respect, they have discovered that an agreement already exists which grants the Catalan government the power to collect their own taxes. The organization's goal will be to pressure the Catalan government to collect their own taxes according to the agreement.